Whatever happened with the LS-10?

On Friday, May 29, 2015 at 4:53:04 PM UTC+10, Jonathan St. Cloud wrote:
Just curious whatever happened with the LS-10 I heard years ago when DG acquired the assets of Rolland-Schnieder they were to make an LS-10 with a larger cockpit. I also saw that a few LS-10 were made and seemed to go very well. Anyone know how many were made, did they perform well, why are they not as popular as the other LS series gliders?

The LS10 missed the boat by about 2 years because of production delays attributable to the LS take-over. During that time the ASG29 captured a large part of the 18m market followed by the JS1. LS10s however do pop up in major comps including the Worlds last year in Poland but by comparison are fairly rare as most top comp pilots bought the 2 previously mentioned types.
I bought production glider #19 in September 2009 (Certification DEC 2009) and couldn't be happier. At the time I was living overseas and needed an 18m sailplane with a sustainer so I could fly in comps and 'self-crew' while on short visits back home. The ASG29 had a poor reputation for engine reliability & power output and Schleicher couldn't give me a time-line for the rumoured prop and engine mods. JS likewise didn't have a time-line for the jet sustainer installation and the Ventus 2 was already a dated design. I'd spoken to Miles Gore-Brown and read articles by Mac Ichikawa (6th Poland WGC 15m) who had won several European comps in the LS10 and that pretty much sealed the deal for me. I visited the factory, flew the glider and was very impressed with the quality of finish and beautiful engine integration. Since then I've flown multi 1000km flights in Australia in my machine and am always impressed with how good the LS10 is against the other 18m types in competition especially at high speed and 600kg! The LS10 has strengths and weaknesses as all of its competitors do but in the end the pilot is still the biggest factor. Rgds.

Hey Briand....

Just wondering what motivated you to take the letter from the factory I posted a few entries above and take it out of context, eliminate the source/signature and then redundantly re-post it???

J4

On Thursday, June 4, 2015 at 1:12:44 PM UTC+10, John Bojack J4 wrote:
Hey Briand....

Just wondering what motivated you to take the letter from the factory I posted a few entries above and take it out of context, eliminate the source/signature and then redundantly re-post it???

J4

Hi J4,
I didn't see your post or read the whole thread inc the factory letter. My post simply reflects my happy experience with the LS10, that's it! Today was the first time I've viewed this blog. Rgds